Autobiography Quotes - Page 11

• The ‘I’ character in journalism is almost pure invention. Unlike the ‘I’ of autobiography, who is meant to be seen as a representation of the writer, the ‘I’ of journalism is connected to the writer only in a tenuous way—the way, say, that Superman is connected to Clark Kent. The journalistic ‘I’ is an overreliable narrator, a functionary to whom crucial tasks of narration and argument and tone have been entrusted, an ad hoc creation, like the chorus of Greek tragedy. He is an emblematic figure, an embodiment of the idea of the dispassionate observer of life.

  Janet Malcolm

  Character, Ideas, Greek

  "The Journalist and the Murderer". Book by Janet Malcolm, March 20, 1989.

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• Of my private life I have nothing to say: it does not concern others. I have always had little liking for autobiographies and have no interest in anyone's affairs. History proper and novels hold no attractions for me except insofar as, I can discern there, as within our immortal Revolution, the adventures of the mind.

  Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

  Adventure, Mind, Doe

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• In [Yogananda's] celebrated Autobiography of a Yogi, he offers a stunning account of the 'cosmic consciousness' reached on the upper levels of yogic practice, and numerous interesting perspectives on human nature from the yogic and Vedantic points of view.

  Robert S Ellwood

  Views, Practice, Interesting

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• All criticism is a form of autobiography

  Oscar Wilde

  Criticism, Form

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• I'm a Democrat voting for Bush, even though on economic issues, from taxes to government regulation, I'm not happy with the Republican positions. But we're at war, and electing a president who is committed to losing it seems to be the most foolish thing we could do. Personal honesty is also important to me, and Kerry is obviously not in the running on that point, given that he can't keep track of the facts in his own autobiography.

  Orson Scott Card

  Running, Honesty, War

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• I had to live and breathe Margaret Thatcher for a few months. I totally engulfed myself in her life. I read her autobiography and a biography, 'The Grocer's Daughter.'

  Alexandra Roach

  Daughter, Mother, Biographies

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• Anything that is not autobiography is plagiarism.

  Pedro Almodovar

  Plagiarism

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• Biographical data, even those recorded in the public registers, are the most private things one has, and to declare them openly is rather like facing a psychoanalyst.

  Italo Calvino

  Data, Register, Private Things

  Italo Calvino (2017). “The Uses of Literature”, p.345, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• A little autobiography and a lot of imagination are best.

  Raymond Carver

  Writing, Imagination, Littles

  Raymond Carver, Bob Adelman (1994). “Carver Country: The World of Raymond Carver”, Arcade Publishing

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• If I basically view criticism as sort of an interesting form of writing about oneself, an interesting form of autobiography, then I don't feel any pressure to have any kind of authoritative, universal voice. That kind of thing has never interested me.

  Chuck Klosterman

  Writing, Interesting, Criticism

  Source: www.avclub.com

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• When I find that I am more conscious, it's because I'm in tune with a higher reality. When I'm less conscious, it's because I've cut off that entunement to some extent. Maybe through drinking, through anger, through whatever. And I realized then that God has to be an infinite consciousness, and that I had to be an expression of that consciousness. And that the goal of life then must be to become more and more in tune with that consciousness. And I decided to give my life to God. And around that time, to make a long story short, I found Autobiography of a Yogi.

  Goswami Kriyananda

  Drinking, Cutting, Reality

  Source: www.lotusguide.com

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• I wrote a little autobiography about how luck has to do with everything. It's called "My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business." A publisher came to me and said write a book so I did. I wanted to call it "Everybody Else Has Got a Book."

  Dick Van Dyke

  Book, Writing, Luck

  "Dick Van Dyke - At 87, Life is Better Than Ever!". Interview with Pat Gallagher, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 11, 2013.

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• Often your face is your autobiography

  Will Durant

  Faces, Your Face

  Will Durant (2014). “Fallen Leaves: Last Words on Life, Love, War, and God”, p.157, Simon and Schuster

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• Since [Rousseau's] time, and largely thanks to him, the Ego has steadily tended to efface itself, and, for purposes of model, to become a manikin on which the toilet of education is to be draped in order to show the fit or misfit of the clothes. The object of study is the garment, not the figure.

  Henry Adams

  Order, Clothes, Ego

  Henry Adams (1999). “The Education of Henry Adams”, p.1920, OUP Oxford

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• For better or worse, I seem to gravitate toward writing about something or someone else, then have my own self shove its way into that story. It seems insanely narcissistic. But I also think there's a particular effect that comes from using my autobiography in service to another story, as opposed to being the subject. I'm much more comfortable working in that mode. And I do think I have a persona or mood that I keep coming back to: self-conscious, self-critical, unsure. I write a lot about bodies, particularly male ones, usually as a point of emphasis for my insecurities about my own.

  Lucas Mann

  Writing, Thinking, Insecurity

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• The trajectory of my writing has moved further and further away from autobiography. My first stories in Confessions of a Falling Woman worked familiar territory - places I had lived, people I knew, my life as an actor in New York - and many were prompted by or grounded in personal experience.

  Debra Dean

  New York, Fall, Writing

  Source: therumpus.net

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• Autobiographical writings, essays, interviews, various other things... All the non-fiction prose I wanted to keep, that was the idea behind this collected volume, which came out about few years ago. I didn't think of Winter Journal, for example, as an autobiography, or a memoir. What it is is a literary work, composed of autobiographical fragments, but trying to attain, I hope, the effect of music.

  Paul Auster

  Writing, Winter, Thinking

  Interview with Nathalie Cochoy, Sophie Vallas, transatlantica.revues.org. March 2014.

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• I'm drawn to fiction that hints at nonfiction, that blurs or seems to blur the boundaries between invention and autobiography.

  Garth Greenwell

  Nonfiction, Hints, Boundaries

  Source: therumpus.net

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• Eclectic is a word that appears almost as much as the word smarmy in rock journalism and I've come to the fact, just as a personal side, this reminds of Oscar Wilde's insight that criticism is the highest form of autobiography. I think that's exactly what rock journalism has attempted to do, to celebrate its autobiography at my expense.

  Van Dyke Parks

  Thinking, Criticism, Journalism

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• After my stroke I put down much of the luggage of my life. I didn't have to prove anything anymore - in business, in my personal life or whatever. And now, as I work on my autobiography, I enjoy looking back, seeing the connections, the causes and effects of my life.

  Hugh Hefner

  Enjoy, Cause And Effect, Prove

  "Los Angeles Times Interview: Hugh Hefner: in the Shadow of Aids, Examining What's Left of the Sexual Revolution". articles.latimes.com. July 31, 1994.

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• I love to read autobiographies. [What is your favorite autobiography?] the autobiography of Coach John Wooden. Everybody has a struggle so it's about seeing how they overcome it and be the best they can.

  Meb Keflezighi

  Struggle, Overcoming, Being The Best

  Source: brooklynactivemama.com

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• Chronicle Books is a wonderful book company. I love how everything represents who I am. The Diva Rules! is not an autobiography in the sense that I am talking about my life but more about my journey as to where I am now. People told me I would never make it. I was staring in the face of adversity and did it anyway. I chronicle it through the years. It is about finding your strength.

  Michelle Visage

  Book, Adversity, Journey

  Source: chicago.gopride.com

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• People are more interested in reading bombastic ideas, whether they're positive or negative. Part of me has sort of lost interest in doing criticism because of that. I've always realized that criticism is basically autobiography. Obviously in my criticism, it's very clear that it's autobiography, but I think it's that way for everybody.

  Chuck Klosterman

  Reading, Thinking, Ideas

  Interview with Noel Murray, www.avclub.com. November 15, 2006.

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• I like to read. Autobiographies.

  Janet Jackson

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• My life has been sadly lacking in snails. I can't clearly remember any first-hand encounters. The best thing I can come up with is second-hand, a passage in Jacques Pépin's autobiography (The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen) in which he describes prying snails from the terrace of his vacation home and cooking them up for dinner.

  Debra Hamel

  Home, Vacation, Hands

  Source: keeperofthesnails.blogspot.com

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